ABSTRACT
The Permian Tsunemori Formation of SW Japan, composed of a series of trenchfill deposits, is considered to have been formed by collisional collapse and accretion of the Akiyoshi Limestone at the end of the Mid-Permian. Brachiopods in the mudstones have been examined for the purpose of elucidating the last stage of the history of the Akiyoshi Limestone Group [=the Akiyoshi Seamount with a cap of thick reefs]. With 16 species and 15 genera, faunal elements are strongly related to those of the Middle to Upper Permian of S and E China. Some cool water elements are also recognized: habitat temperatures may have fallen about the end of the Mid-Permian. Collison and accretion of the Akiyoshi Seamount is considered to have occurred at the end of the Guadalupian (=Midian), or at the beginning of the Dzhulfian. The depositional site of the Tsunemori Fm might originally have been close to the northern margin of the Yangtze Platform.
